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Well, I used to spend many of bow hunting nights in the back of a little Toyota pick-up with a cap, 1" Dense Styrofoam under a piece of carpeting/sleeping bag.....was pretty comfortable.....Looks like that little rig would be as well.

You can take the chill off with a Colman lantern, just don't go to sleep with it running......

Well, I used to spend many of bow hunting nights in the back of a little Toyota pick-up with a cap, 1" Dense Styrofoam under a piece of carpeting/sleeping bag.....was pretty comfortable.....Looks like that little rig would be as well.

You can take the chill off with a Colman lantern, just don't go to sleep with it running......

I am thinking some of that thin fiberglass insulation with a foil layer would go a long way to better insulate the enclosure, which would help a lot here in northern Ohio. It would add another 50 bucks or so, but it would make it a lot warmer. I'm also wondering if a small home made wood burner could be installed for some cheap heat! I fugure for $200 dollars it could be made into a much better shelter, but then money always adds nicety doesn't it?

Built something similar in high school engineering class as a project for the Lemelson-MIT Inventeams competition, ending up getting selected out of 2,000 some odd schools to be one of the 14 teams to go to MIT and present our project. After that it ended up going on to the White House science fair.

I'm the guy in the tie.
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Here you can see the water filtration unit on the side.
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And with Bill Nye the science guy...
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"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
Thomas Paine

Minimalist Camping: Enjoy nature, don't be tortured by it. Take as little as you need to be safe and comfortable.

Other stuff about it I forgot to mention:
The material we used is 1/2" thick corrugated polypropylene, the shelter was strong enough for our entire team of 15 people to sit on top of it. We also ran a computer simulation of a tree falling on it with little damage. I designed the water filtration system and tested that it would remove ecoli from the water. and it has vents at the top and bottom for air circulation in hot and humid climates. It folded down flat for shipping and could easily be set up in 30 minutes by two people, the weight was around 90lbs. I believe the price of materials was around $140 with the water filter, and with to bunk bed style cots it could sleep four people.

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
Thomas Paine

Minimalist Camping: Enjoy nature, don't be tortured by it. Take as little as you need to be safe and comfortable.

Other stuff about it I forgot to mention:
The material we used is 1/2" thick corrugated polypropylene, the shelter was strong enough for our entire team of 15 people to sit on top of it. We also ran a computer simulation of a tree falling on it with little damage. I designed the water filtration system and tested that it would remove ecoli from the water. and it has vents at the top and bottom for air circulation in hot and humid climates. It folded down flat for shipping and could easily be set up in 30 minutes by two people, the weight was around 90lbs. I believe the price of materials was around $140 with the water filter, and with to bunk bed style cots it could sleep four people.

Wow, that is really cool Sparky! Maybe the guy I posted stole his idea from your team! You know, I have always thought if I ever became homeless, I could build a shelter some how, some way to keep me out of the weather and stay comfortable, warm, and dry.
That is an even better shelter that the one in the original post as far as I am concerned!

Hey very cool, Sparky....seems you are not just a pretty face.....LOL
Should have put them into production.....I would buy one as a spare....or camoed up a blind.....

Got plans for the water filter?

I think I might have a 3D model somewhere of the water filter somewhere, we wanted to use filter materials that could be replaced or made easily or cheaply. Basically it is two chambers the small top one contains a pool chlorine tablet and the bottom contains activated carbon (charcoal that has been treated to remove any contaminants). The chlorine tablet kills any bacteria and the carbon removes most of the chlorine and any other chemicals in the water.

We almost had them in production but the deal fell through and I fell out of the loop because of a conflict between myself and the teacher of the engineering class.

For production we had thought of many options such as windows, solar and wind power. and another thing I forgot to mention was it had floor made out of material similar to a pool liner that came 4" up the wall to prevent water from coming in.

Last edited by Sparky93; 12-12-2012 at 04:34 PM.

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
Thomas Paine

Minimalist Camping: Enjoy nature, don't be tortured by it. Take as little as you need to be safe and comfortable.

When we were kids, one of the guys father owned a appliance store....man we made all sorts of cabins, space ships, tanks out of the refrigerator boxes....a knife and a little paint, and alot of imagination......

You could buy cardboard stuff like this from the back of comic books, of course we didn't have any money, but have to tell ya that I spent many a night in my cardboard log cabin, guarding the frontier.

Example....LOL
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When we were kids, one of the guys father owned a appliance store....man we made all sorts of cabins, space ships, tanks out of the refrigerator boxes....a knife and a little paint, and alot of imagination......

You could buy cardboard stuff like this from the back of comic books, of course we didn't have any money, but have to tell ya that I spent many a night in my cardboard log cabin, guarding the frontier.

Example....LOL
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When I was a kid I wasn't into staying inside glued to the tv, I was always outside, building forts, boomerangs, and the sort. I've always been building something, and I've always had about a million and one projects going on at the same time. My mom has a book of all my plans I made when I was little, the thing is about 5" thick lol

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
Thomas Paine

Minimalist Camping: Enjoy nature, don't be tortured by it. Take as little as you need to be safe and comfortable.